Cylinder top oiler



June 2, 1953 R. K. CHASE CYLINDER TOP OILER 2 Sheets-Sheet I Filed Nov. 17 1949 INVENTOR. BJZerZZCZQSe June 2, 1953 Filed Nov. 17, 1949 R. K. CHASE CYLINDER TOP OILER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented June 2, 1953 UNITED STATES PT'NT ()FFICE GYLINDER TOP OILER Robert K. Chase, Rochester, N. Y.

Application November 17, 1949, Serial No. 127,979

4 Claims.

My present invention relates to lubricating devices and more particularly to auxiliary oilers for internal combustion engines the purpose of which is to supply lubricant directly to the pistons and cylinder walls in and immediately adj aoent to the explosion chambers in the engine head and, the invention has for its broad object to provide a neat, compact, efficient and serviceable devic of this nature particularly applicable toautomobile engines.

A further object of the invention is to provide an oiler of this character that will insure immediate response to lubricating requirements when the engine needs it most, namely, when it is started after a period of rest.

Other objects are to provide a simple and sensitive means for adjusting the feed of the oiler and for insuring an ample feed when an automobile engine to which the oiler is fitted is climbing a hill and the vacuum it produces to draw the.

oil is at a low ebb or not present at all.

To these and other ends the invention resides in certain improvements and combinations of parts all as will be hereinafter more fully described, the novel features being pointed out in the claims at the end of this specification.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of an oiler of the character outlined constructed in accordance with and illustrating one embodiment of my invention, the same being shown in the position it assumes when the automobile to which it is attached is climbing a hill; 7

Figure 2 is an enlarged, vertical central section thereof taken in a plane running front to rear but showing some enclosed parts in elevation;

Figure 3 is a further enlarged fragmentary detail section taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2;

Figure l is a fragmentary enlargement of a portion of the showing of Fig. 2 but with the interior parts also in section;

Figure 5 is a top plan view on a scale intermediate those of the other views and Figure 6 is an enlarged fragmentary detail view on the scale of Fig. 4 and taken on the line 6-6 of Fig. 1.

Similar reference numerals throughout the views indicate the same parts.

To first give a general idea of the major parts and functions involved, my device is fitted to be attached to the dash or partition at the rear of the engine compartment of an automobile. It embodies a general casing including a body casting from which depend below an oil reservoir and which supports a vacuum dome on top. A pipe line to the intake manifold of the engine adjacent to the carbureter is connected to exhaust pressure from the vacuum dome and draw oil therefrom along with the fuel charge and thereby also induce a replenishing flow of oil through another pipe line from the reservoir to the dome. There is a regulator for this latter pipe line accessible from the exterior for very fine adjustment as the amount of flow required is not great. A special type of oil, prepared for this particular purpose, and also to combat carbon and gummy deposits in the manifold and in the head and valves is available.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, 1 indicates the central body casting of the casing structure and 2 a bracket extension thereof whereby the device is secured bybolts 3 in an upright position in rear of the engine. A threaded cavity 4 in the underside of the element 1 receives and supports the threaded neck 5 of a jar-like main oil reservoir 6, preferably of glass so that its contents may be viewed. The neck seats against a gasket to as it must be air tight. The reservoir is readily removeable for filling but is normally locked against loosening by a dog point set screw 1 in a bore 8 in bracket extension 2, the said bore being covered by washer plate 9 for bolts 3.

A similar cavity ID with a gasket ll similarly receives and seats in an airtight manner the cylindrical tubular body portion l2 of a surmounting dome that forms the vacuum chamber l 3. Its top I4 is also sealed with a gasket I5. A central heavy pipe 16 has gasket sealed shoulders I! and It at top and bottom of the chamber, respectively, the latter engaging the central element I and the other engaging under the chamber top I4 through which the threaded upper end IQ of the pipe projects to the outside. A cap nut 20 on this threaded end, through'a gasket 2 l secures the top I4 while the reduced threaded lower end 22 of pipe l6, projecting into underside cavity 4 carries a gasket 23 and nut 24 that holds the whole assembly thus far described tightly together.

A suck pipe 25 having its mouth near the bottom of reservoir 6 has a plug joint 26 at its upper end driven into the lower end 22 of pipe 16. At an upper point in chamber I3 a lateral opening in pipe to is provided with a spout 26 arranged to drip into vacuum chamber [3. Near its intersection with the pipe the latter is interiorly threaded to receive a screw plug 21 in such manner that. this threaded portion being above the said opening at 28, the plug loosely occupies the bore of the pipe below.

There is thus established a pipe line between reservoir 6 and vacuum chamber l3. But it is obvious that the lower the position of the plug 2! in the pipe bore the longer the path of the oil is made in following its threads and thus the greater the resistance to its flow and it rate of delivery to the delivery port for the vacuum chamber established by the spout 26. In other words, an adjustable frictional resistance is set up. Three drops a minute, roughly, is an average feed.

The upper end of the plug 27 is formed into a wrench socket at 29 and by removing cap nut a suitable wrench may be inserted in pipe l6 and the plug adjusted up or down past the nozzle or spout opening so that more or less of its threads must be traversed by the oil.

On the floor of vacuum chamber IS in rear of pipe l6 and near the rear wall l2 of the chamber is a small cup 30 having a small feed port 3| in its bottom. The port is furnished by a threaded tubular extension 32 on the cup secured in a vertical threaded passage 33 in element I, a gasket 34 being provided under the cup. This port and passage 3|-33 communicates with a horizontal front to rear passage 35 in casing body element while at the forward end of the last mentioned passage is a threaded enlargement receiving the plug connection 36 of an oil line feed pipe 31 which delivers the lubricant to the intake manifold of the engine and through which vacuum is communicated to the vacuum chamber l3. The central pipe |6 intersects the passage 35 and is of greater diameter but it is circumferentially grooved at 38 to permit the oil to flow around it (see also Fig. 3).

The operation is as follows:

The main reservoir 6 being comfortably filled with oil and the engine started, suction from the manifold through feed line 31, 36, 35, 33, 3| draws air from chamber I3 and builds up a partial vacuum therein. This induces oil at atmospheric pressure to be forced up the supply line 25, 26, I E, 21 to the delivery port and spout 26 wherefrom it falls, drop by drop, into the vacuum chamber. In a short time the level reaches the rim of cup 30 and spills therein at the same rate that it drips from the spout and is of course sucked from the feed port 3| to the engine manifold and the explosion chambers.

When the engine is stopped, the cup will be full and the oil level in chamber 3 will be at its rim which conditions will remain so for a long period of rest. When the engine is started again, which is the time that it particularly 1 needs cylinder head lubrication, there will therefor be an immediate feed from the cup under sucage opening 4|! (Fig. 4) which functions only when the cup is empty. In practice I have made this opening only fifteen thousandths of an inch.

Gravity plus the adjacent suction at the feed port 3| causes enough oil to seep through this orifice to initiate a flow to the engine until the normal vacuum restores the normal delivery at the spout and the level of oil in the C again spills over down the inside walls of the cup. But with the engine idle and an absence of vacuum in passages 35, 33, 3|, opening 4|! will not function to transmit oil out of the cup and back into chamber l3 proper.

Of course atmospheric pressure must be maintained in the main reservoir 6 in order to raise the column of oil in the line 25, I6 and avoid any vacuum resulting from the withdrawal of oil. To this end a breather plug 42, Figs, 5 and 6, is threaded through a side wall of cavity 4 above the jar neck 5. An opening 43 therein from the atmosphere leads to the hollow interior stuffed with a suitable air filtering material 44.

The reason for locating the cup 30 rearwardly as shown and described is explained as follows with particular reference to Fig. 1. When an automobile engine is under the load of a hill climb the vacuum in its manifold is reduced and hence, in the present instance, the vacuum in chamber 3 momentarily declines. But the upgrade also tilts the oiler rearwardly as in the figure referred to so that the body of oil in the bottom of chamber I3 shifts to a different level that submerges the feed cup 30 and fills it for the duration of the emergency. The normal level of oil in the vacuum chamber at the rim of the feed cup is indicated so shifted by the broken line in Fig. 1.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a cylinder top oiler for internal combustion engines, the combination with a casing structure embodying an oil reservoir, a vacuum chamber having a feed port, an oil line connecting the reservoir and chamber and provided with a delivery port in the chamber, and a carbureter connection arranged to drain the feed port and directly connected thereto but otherwise sealed from the vacuum chamber, of a cup surrounding the feed port with its rim well above the feed port and the floor of the chamber so that it may maintain an independent oil level above that in the chamber into which cup arranged on the floor of the chamber accumulations of oil on the floor of the vacuum chamber spill when the oil level in the latter reaches a given point, said cup being provided with a. minute orifice of less capacity than the feed port in a side wall thereof connecting it with the chamber below the rim of the cup and above the floor of the chamber.

2. In a cylinder top oiler for internal combustion engines, the combination with a casing structure embodying an intermediate casing body suspending a lower oil reservoir, a vacuum chamber dome superposed on the casing body above the oil reservoir and having a feed port, an oil line embodying a pipe extending vertically through the oil chamber and through the casing body and the dome to the exterior, said pipe being provided with a delivery portin the vacuum chamber and with a removable cap on its exterior end that both normally seals the. said pipe and secures the dome to the casing body, and a carbureter connection arranged to drain the feed port, of a screw plug in the pipe obstructing the oil line and around the threads of which the oil must travel a greater or less distance and with more or less frictional resistance according to the position of the plug, the latter being accessible for adjustment through the said outer end of the pipe above the dome.

3. In a cylinder top oiler for internal combustion engines, the combination with a vacuum chamber and an oil feed line connected to deliver thereto, of a cup on the floor of the chamber open at the top to receive overflow therefrom at a point well above the floor of the chamber so that the cup is normally sealed off from a low level of oil in the chamber, there being a feed port at the bottom of the cup, and a carbureter connection arranged to drain the feed port and directly connected therewith but otherwise sealed from the chamber, said cup being provided in its wall with a minute opening above the floor of the chamber and above a low level of oil therein for the purpose described.

4. In a cylinder top oiler for internal combustion engines, the combination with a casing structure embodying an oil reservoir, a vacuum chamber embodying a dome superposed on the oil chamber and having a feed port, an oil line connecting the reservoir and chamber embodying a pipe extending vertically straight through the oil chamber and through the dome to the exterior and provided with a delivery port in the vacuum chamber, and a carbureter connection arranged to drain the feed port, of a screw plug, threaded from tip to tip, located in and obstructing the oil line around the threads of which plug the feed of oil must travel a greater or less distance and with more or less frictional resistance according to the position of the plug, said plug being accessible for adjustment through the outer end of the pipe. 

